Washington. The mid-term elections, which will determine the political direction of the remaining two years of US President Donald Trump’s term, will be held on November 3. It is estimated that about 12 billion US dollars will be spent on political advertising in the elections for both houses of Congress, governors of 36 states and thousands of state-level positions.
Out of 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 218 seats are required for a majority. Currently, Republicans have 218 seats and Democrats have 214 seats. Democrats would need a net gain of at least three seats for a majority. Elections are also being held for 35 seats in the Senate. Currently, Republicans hold 53 seats and 47 seats, including two independents who support Democrats. Democrats would need a net gain of four seats to take control of the Senate.
Democrats have shown a national lead in opinion polls. In a poll by PBS News, NPR and Marist, Democrats received 53 percent support and Republicans 41 percent. The approval rate for Trump’s performance has been seen from 32 to 41 percent in various surveys. In an NBC News poll, 55 percent said his policies hurt the economy and 26 percent said they helped.
Advertising monitoring company AdImpact estimates that advertising spending will reach $11.6 billion this election cycle. Kinetic Political Insights estimate is 11.96 billion dollars. Eight billion 900 million dollars were spent on the 2022 mid-term elections. In the primary election for governor of California alone, 330 million dollars were spent on advertising.
This year, 2,497 candidates participated in the Congress primary election. Candidates of major parties of 2024 are fighting again in the 44 contests of the House of Representatives. Including state and local elections, such re-contests have reached 474 across the country. -AFP